Horror and Knowledge
by OliveBranchStories
Summary: In a land where people have graces, superhuman abilities, King Leck has the grace to make people believe anything he says. Katsa and Po, friends who are both graced, are captured by Leck, and Leck makes Katsa believe that she hates Po. Leck makes her believe she wants to hurt Po, to murder him. But wanting isn't enough to do some things, a fact that Leck is only now learning.


G'day.

I've always loved the novel 'Graceling' by Kistrin Cashore, so it was only a matter of time before I wrote some fanfiction. Today I've been largely confined to my computer, thanks to the flu. This is good because I had the time to write this, but bad because I suppose it could all have been a hallucination and I'll wake up tomorrow learning that I didn't actually write anything. Also, do forgive me for any mistakes and accept my sickness-based excuse for not proof-reading thoroughly.

I hope you like this, if you haven't read 'Graceling' I would HIGHLY recommend it. Though you might want to read it before you read this, because there are spoilers.

Enjoy!

===Horror and knowledge===

-Katsa-

Katsa knew something was wrong.

She was walking along besides King Leck. Nobody was trying to hurt her, or anyone else for that matter, King Leck was quite amicable as he chatted quietly, but something was terribly wrong. The feeling was also out-of-place, Katsa had the grace, the gift, of survival, so whatever was worrying her could not be about her physical wellbeing as that was never in question. There was something else…someone else…but she couldn't _remember. _

-Leck-

Some of the King's soldiers had offered to go with them but King Leck had laughed and refused them; he needed no-one's help. His control was absolute. The woman walking beside him, who could've killed him in an instant had she the mind to, was in his control. His secret grace of lying, of making people believe his lies to be truth, gave him complete control over all of the people around him. Apart from…well…

But all in good time; leading Katsa down the hall, towards the throne room, Leck just let himself enjoy the simple satisfaction that came from domination.

-Katsa-

Heart pounding Katsa realised that they were making their way towards the throne room. She felt sick…but…

"Everything is fine," King Leck said.

Everything was fine.

Everything was fine?

"You're not worried," King Leck whispered as he put a hand lightly on her shoulder. Instinct told her to jerk away (and to drive a sword through his throat) but that was silly, that instinct was legacy of King Randa, the man she had been in the employ of for many years before she broke free of him and left with…with…someone…who?

"You're not worried."

She wasn't worried; the twisted feeling in her gut was something else. Maybe she was coming down with something? She coughed experimentally but her airways were clear. It was probably just a stomach bug then, something that would come and go and be of no consequence.

"There is a prisoner in the throne room," King Leck looked down into her eyes; he was significantly taller than Katsa. He had only one eye, a patch covered his empty eye socket, or whatever remains of his eye was left. It reminded her of something…something urgent…something important.

"The prisoner is a traitor and a murderer. He is a kidnapper and a liar. You do not want to help him."

"Why would I want to help a murderer?" Katsa asked, slightly scornful at the way King Leck found it necessary to state the obvious. The man smiled indulgently at her but continued saying,

"You will not want to help him. You will believe that helping him would be wrong."

Of course she wouldn't help the prisoner, why did the King keep saying it? Maybe he had heard about her involvement with the Council, the secret organization she had begun which, among other things, freed political prisoners from captivity. But they had only freed those who had been wrongly imprisoned or those who faced an inhumane punishment. The man in the throne room was guilty; of course she would not free him.

-Leck-

Reaching the door a step ahead of Katsa the King placed a hand out to halt her progress. He smiled at her confused expression. By the expression on her face she was obviously trying to figure out why she felt so confused, it really was quite amusing. Most people just succumbed to his grace; the only people who questioned the truths he made them believe were the sort who questioned the truth all the time, anyway. And here he had been thinking she had been little more than a mindless strong-arm of the distant, insignificant King of the Middluns.

For a moment Leck wondered what Katsa would do if he…

He chuckled; enough time for that later. He would have months, years, however long he wanted, to enjoy his new acquisition.

Positioning Katsa in front of the door, she let him move her like she was a puppet; Leck stood next to it so she had a clear view and swung it open. He watched her face all the while.

Katsa looked into the room and, upon seeing the prisoner, winced at the stab of recognition. He face flattened as she tried to squint through the confusion but she must've recognized him once more. The knowledge drove her back a step and, by the looks of the way she was sudden clasping her head, had caused an instantaneous headache. Leck breathed his laughter inside as he turned from her and entered the room.

-Katsa-

Katsa followed the King. She was peering around him at the prisoner who occupied the chair in the center of the throne room. The man was slumped over, breathing delicately as though recently beaten, with his legs tied to the legs of his chair and his arms lashed behind him. A rope and gag tied tightly through his mouth ensured that he could articulate nothing.

"The prisoner is evil," the King was saying, reaching the man and looking down at him with an inscrutable expression. Katsa didn't understand what his face was showing, what emotion that was. She had never been good with reading emotion; she remembered someone who was a genius with emotion, who always knew what people were thinking, someone…who was that someone?

The prisoner, not unconscious after all, suddenly looked up at Katsa _remembered; _a man with one gold, one silver eye was hard to forget.

"Po?" She gasped, taking a step towards him.

"This man is evil," the King intoned, watching her closely.

Katsa's heart lurched and her stomach knotted itself, possibly around her liver. She had believed Po had been a good man, a kind man…she had _loved _him.

"This man abducted my daughter," the King was still watching her closely as he began circling Po.

"No," Katsa whispered, but it was not a 'no' of denial, she could not resist Leck's grace. Instead, it was a small 'no' of horror at what she now believed.

"This man murdered my wife," Leck was still circling, circling, circling. Po wasn't paying him any attention; he gazed steadily, or perhaps slightly desperately, she couldn't tell, at Katsa. He wasn't trying to speak, it would not have been possible anyway, and he just stared as though wishing she could read his mind.

Read his mind…

Katsa took a step back. Po's anguished expression followed her.

"He…" she said, gesturing at her frien- the man, "my…"

She gripped her head again, but the King seemed to understand that this time it was not the confusion that was paining her, but the clarity.

"And his worst crime of all," he said. "He is a mind-reader."

-Po-

Po looked from Katsa for the first time to glare at the King. He was furious, blindingly furious. He was helpless, terribly helpless. But the King's words had penetrated his anguish for Katsa and the use Leck was planning for her for the first time. It was instinctual, the visceral reaction he had to the condemnation of him because of the grace he hadn't chosen.

Leck looked down at his prisoner's defiant expression and smiled wider than ever.

His mind was open, his mind was loud, his mind was a thousand dogs baying for his blood.

His mind was a snake, twisting and twisting and wishing to bite not him but Katsa.

Though Po's ability to read thoughts was limited to be only able to read the thoughts that were about him, Leck wanted Po to hear what he was thinking about Katsa and himself. This intention, that Po heard these unrelated thoughts, was sufficient for Po's grace to hear them, to hear what no sane human should hear.

As Katsa stood by, held helpless by Leck, the King paused in his circling, stopping in front of Po. Leck stared down at Po, a horrible gloating smile on his thin lips, thinking and thinking and _thinking_. Po shuddered, hearing what Leck intended to do with Katsa and do _to _Katsa. The use of her as an assassin and a brutal torturer was horrible, but not nearly as horrible as the excited anticipation Leck had which Po could sense involved knives and pain and desperation and a bed.

Flashes of the past ran through Leck's eyes. Po heard what Leck had done to other women he had crushed into his control and looked away, terrified, anguished. He wanted to retch but couldn't around his gag. These things in his mind he could never un-see…and it was going to happen to _Katsa _and there was _nothing _he could do about it.

But first…Po looked back up at Leck in horror for Katsa and himself as he read what Leck intended for _right now. _

-Leck-

Leck stepped away from the prisoner; he was enjoying himself more than he had in ages. Watching the prisoner's despair had been immensely satisfying.

Seeing the woman's helplessness was enjoyable, but she didn't know she was helpless.

Seeing the man's horror and knowledge in his helplessness had been a different kind of enjoyable. It had been _exquisite_.

Leck decided that he would try that with the woman before the end.

"This man," he said, turning back to Katsa, "is a kidnapper and a killer. This man has been tried and found guilty of these crimes."

Now Leck drew from the folds of his robes a short, sheathed knife. He held this out to Katsa.

"His punishment is pain, and you are to give it to him."

-Katsa-

Katsa looked wordlessly from the knife to the King, back to the knife, back to the King; she couldn't tell which was which.

Through her aching, _aching _confusion she was able to formulate a word, which she pushed out of her lungs with immense effort.

"What?"

It wasn't, of course, the most eloquent of words. The King turned to the prisoner, to Po, her Po, her betrayer, and looked into the eyes of the man who watched the knife in his hands with the expression of the condemned; the hunted and the caught.

"The crimes of this man are so horrendous that the only appropriate punishment is torture and execution," the King looked back to Katsa, "and you are the one who must do it."

Katsa gripped her head again, for the third, fourth or five-thousandth time, one of the three. Po was guilty, Po had done terrible things…he deserved execution, but she didn't want to do it. Despite all of the terrible things he had done, betrayal and murder, she didn't want to kill him.

"Why?" She gasped, "Why must I do it?"

"That is how the law works here," the King sounded slightly impatient now. "You _must _do it; you know you must do it. Come."

He beckoned with the hand holding his knife, unintentionally making a cut-throat gesture.

"I…" Katsa closed her eyes and tried to drive clarity into her mind, "I don't want to."

Po was looking at her, his expression doing alien things. But she didn't look at him. She was terribly sad, she was angry and disgusted, but these things were not reason enough to want to do it.

"You have to," Leck definitely sounded impatient now, "you are his victim, the law says you must. It is what is right. You think that killing him is the right thing to do."

And it was; it _was. _Killing Po was her task; it was what she must do. But she still could not, _would _not, take the knife.

-Po-

Po knew the nature of Leck's grace, he knew how Leck was trying to use it and he knew what it was doing. Katsa was strong, but she did not have the grace of mind-reading like he did which was the only thing that allowed him resistance to Leck's insidious grace. When Leck used his grace to tell her what to believe she was powerless to resist; so when Leck was told her Po had murdered she believed it. When Leck told her Po was evil she believed it. When Leck told her that torturing and executing Po was the right thing to do, she believed that it was the right thing to do.

So why wasn't she doing it?

Katsa believed the right thing to do would be to kill him…_why wasn't she doing it? _

-Leck-

Leck frowned at Katsa. This was not going to plan. Why wouldn't the stupid woman take the knife? He knew his grace worked on her, she'd been proving that for hours. He had complete control over what she believed, so why wasn't she doing as he said?

Leck rubbed his mouth with the hand holding the knife. He was a manipulator, people were so malleable. It was a nice change to finally be challenged a little, he would just have to get…creative.

Turning sharply away from her, Leck walked next to the prisoner again and looked down at Po with his back to Katsa. Looking away from her the gold-and-silver-eyed man met Leck's gaze.

"I do like a challenge," the King said softly. Po could do nothing other than glare. If looks could kill, Leck smiled, oh how Po would be wishing looks could kill.

The man looked up at him, reading his mind, agreeing with his eyes that if looks could kill Leck would be worse than dead.

Leck outwardly laughed.

-Katsa-

The King laughed as he looked at the man Katsa was supposed to be in the process of killing and she felt a thrill of distrust. The feeling that something, everything, was wrong returned and intensified. Why was the King laughing? This was no laughing matter.

When the King turned Katsa saw he was smiling as well. She tensed, unsure. Was he mad? Should she stop him?

The King was looking at her now, seeing her tensed posture, and he quickly said,

"I am right, I am your friend, you trust me, you don't want to hurt me."

Katsa straightened out of her threatened stance. A misunderstanding, of course. The King still looked at her with a wary expression; he was probably concerned she would misunderstand something again. She tried to smile reassuringly but found she was physically hampered in smiling by the presence of Po still bound and gagged in the middle of the room.

"You do want to hurt him."

The King's voice came from very far away, echoing around Katsa, resonating within her. She looked at Po.

"He has hurt people, he has murdered them. He killed little children, all the while laughing as he read their thoughts. He is evil, you hate him."

King Leck lifted the knife in his hands and drew the sheath upwards and off. The blade played with the sunlight, toyed with it, sliced it and scattered it throughout the room. He held the blade out to Katsa. She looked down to it, her eyebrows coming together, and then looked up at Po.

The man was cruel, he was a murderer. He could've used his grace for good but he didn't, he used it to maim and kill. She wanted to touch his skin not lovingly, as she once had, but to twist, to break and hurt. He deserved it; it would be the right thing to do.

"I can't trust my judgement, I hate him, therefore I cannot trust myself to make an unbiased decision," she held up her hands, to ward of Po, the knife, she did not know.

"I'm not _asking _you to make a decision," King Leck said with a taste of arrogant malevolence in his voice, "you could not be trusted with the decision anyway. You cannot trust your judgement, you must trust me."

Katsa looked at him wordlessly, feeling smothered, feeling like she was under some great weight of water which might crush her before she could drown in it.

"You trust my judgement. You know I am right. You must hurt Po," the King held up the knife insistently. Pain stabbed behind Katsa's eyes. All that he was saying was true, but there was a part of her beyond the truth, beyond trust in others or distrust of herself. No matter what the truth was or what lies were discovered or believed there is a part in everyone that remains the same. People are not subjective to the world around them. The world can still impact them, truth and lies can still influence feelings and choices, but these decisions are routed through this place. A fact King Leck had never learnt because he had always been around people who denied this place, denied themselves, for the much easier path of submission.

Katsa's spirit had learnt in the past the oblivion in submission and it had fought, railed against it, and now, beyond truth or lies, it would not torture, it would not kill this helpless man.

"No," she said, looking from the knife to the King. The King's expression narrowed then hardened.

"You want to kill him," he said slowly, as though testing her, and Katsa felt a surge of murderous rage towards Po, but she still her clenching hands.

"I do, but I will not."

King Leck retracted the knife to himself.

"Why?" He asked, still slowly.

"No matter how much I hate him, no matter what he has done, he can hurt no-one now. I will not harm myself by killing someone who poses no threat to anyone."

"He will escape if you do not kill him, he will kill if you do not," the King hissed. Katsa's knees almost buckled and it took her a moment to put into words the chord of feeling that ran from her heart to her mind, the only thing she could cling to.

"I will kill him then. When he escape and poses a threat I will hunt him and kill him."

Po was looking at her silently, steadily, wounded.

"But not now, not like this, not when he is helpless. It would be murder."

"It would be execution, it would be a crown-sanctioned punishment," the King reasoned, "it would be the _right thing to do."_

"I don't care, I will not do it," Katsa found her strength somewhere, floating in the fog inside her, "I have killed for the crown in the past and no matter the guilt of my victims I was guilty of murder all the same. I will not murder."

"It isn't murder, it is self-defence, it is the defence of those he will kill when he escapes," the King had a calculating expression Katsa hardly saw.

"We…" Katsa faltered momentarily, but her spirit rallied behind her, "we cannot know for certain that he will be a danger in the future."

"I know for certain, you know for certain he will be danger."

Katsa fell to her knees, grasping her head, the truth and the weight of it smothering her. If she gave in, if she gave up, she would be able to stand…but if she surrendered her values she would never stand again, not really, not in any way that mattered.

"I will not kill a helpless man," she yelled desperately. The King was approaching her now, with the truth that challenged everything she believed in.

"He is not helpless, he is insidious. He _reads minds, Katsa. _Even when he is bound and gagged one is never safe from him, for you cannot stop his grace. He is reading your mind now, he has read it in the past. When you learnt of his grace and were hurt and confused, he laughed at you. When you loved him he heard it and he told everyone, _don't you remember?"_

-Po-

Po felt like crying, felt like screaming, felt like dying. Feeling the hate and the soul-deep hurt pulsing from Katsa's mind like blood from a fatal wound was more horrible then he could have ever imagined. He wanted to leap from his bonds to Katsa and tell him it wasn't true. He had never laughed at her; he would never share someone's most private thoughts with others. He would never mock that which she was so ashamed of, that which she could not help. It was her worst, most terrible fear; a fact Leck had probably manipulated her into telling him. Leck had probably made her tell him everything just so that he could use it against her. He tried to yell through his gag but could hardly make a sound. Wrenching at his arms he felt the sharp rope cut into his wrists and his shoulders sear in their sockets.

_Don't believe him, _Po wanted to shout, _don't believe a word he says, it's not true! None of it is true! _But of course he couldn't and Katsa believed the lies, and Po knew it was hopeless. Leck was going to make Katsa kill him and then he would be beyond helping anyone. Katsa would kill him, there was no way she couldn't, and then Leck would destroy her utterly in every way a human can destroy another.

Tears spilled from his eyes, hot, furious, and agonized. They dampened his gag; he couldn't even breathe enough to sob. He hunched over and wished Leck would finish it soon, would leave it soon. And though he ached for Katsa to live, to survive, he knew she would never be free under Leck's heel, and so, hating himself, he wished Leck would not play with her for long, would finish it quickly, before she could suffer too much.

-Leck-

Dragging Katsa's worst fears from where she would've buried them and guarded them from revelation forever, had she the ability, was delectable. Leck remembered sweet young ones he had undressed in a similar fashion, though of course much more literally, and didn't know which he found more satisfying. Katsa was grasping at herself as though she had been bared before him and could drag cloth over these horrible secrets and fears that were dripping from his tongue.

"You love for this…Po, this man; he shouted it to the world. He told everyone. He told your friends back home how pathetic you were, how you didn't even know what love was. They all laughed, they all think you are wretched, pitiful. He told complete strangers about how you look, about everything you would have ever hidden. They laughed as well."

Katsa stared, unseeing, at the floor, gasping as his words drove into her mind like the knife he held over her.

"He exposed every thought you've had, about how you hated yourself, how you didn't know how to love. And he'll do it again, if you do not kill him _right now _he will escape and he will tell everyone about your soul and what a wretched thing it is."

-Katsa-

All of her greatest fears had come true. Katsa had always hated and feared mind readers for the very shame that had now been exposed. She had a sort of mortifying shame and humiliation that grew into a cavernous monster now that it was exposed. She closed her eyes in pain and the tears beading on her eyelashes ran down her face to the floor.

"I trusted you!" She yelled suddenly, furiously, uncoiling her body like a whip. Po jerked in his seat and the chair legs skipped momentarily off of the floor.

"I trusted you! How could you! You knew how I felt, you knew how much I hated you knowing, how you could go and tell people when you _knew how much I feared you would?_"

Po was trying to speak through his gag, his throat was working frantically and there were tears on his face as well. Even now he was pretending, even now he was planning to gain her trust once more and expose her to the world.

The King held out the knife to her wordlessly and for a moment she almost took it, almost took it from his hands and stood and took three strides and slammed it into Po's heart, where it belonged. But that voice deep inside her called out, reminded her that she was more than what everyone said, they could think what they want and it didn't have to control her. Everyone could know everything and hate her and humiliate her but she could still put that aside, disregard those people, because it would still be _her _doing the killing. Killing him might stop her from being exposed and publicly humiliated but it would do something worse, it would poison her, it would turn her against her values, against herself.

No matter what Po had done she would not kill him, she would not do that to herself.

She fought for control over her body, silencing her sobs and drying her eyes on her sleeve before knocking away the knife.

"I've told you that I will not kill him," she said firmly.

"He has…" Leck began, outraged, but Katsa cut through the fog and through him.

"No matter what he has done I will not hurt him. No matter his crimes I will not descend to his level, I will not murder."

Katsa stood, drying her eyes again as they insisted on remaining wet. Head lifting to follow her progress, Po's struggles to free himself weakened. He had an odd expression on his face…amazement wouldn't be the right word but…okay, maybe it would.

-Po-

Po didn't blame Katsa for hating him. He knew that if he could not read Leck's mind he could've easily been made to hate her in return. He understood that her hatred was not her fault; it was not even her choice.

But he was awed by the resistance she still summoned against Leck. More so, the strength in her convictions, the unwavering stance of doing only what she could reconcile with her sense of justice, which for all of his trying Leck could not alter, would've struck him dumb even if he hadn't been gagged at the time.

It was like Leck was trying to convince Katsa to change her instincts. But instincts cannot be changed; they go beyond decisions and beliefs, particularly in the stance of right and wrong. Po knew people could fool themselves, indeed he knew Katsa had in the past, everyone at some point would have, but he also knew that deep down everybody had a sense of morality, an instinct for ethics. An instinct that Katsa was now arming herself with against Leck's lies without even knowing that was what she was doing. She wasn't doing this to resist Leck, she was doing this to remain true to herself, which, though similar, was entirely different.

Po's heart pounded and he wished they could get out of this alive, just so that he could tell her how much he loved her in this moment.

-Leck-

Leck was angry. The man, Po, resisting him he could understand. The man could read minds so he would hear the truth Leck was thinking instead of believing the lies he was saying. Leck was not angry that he could not control Po because of the simple fact that there was no way that he could. But this woman! He should be able to control her! He could control what she thought; he could control what she believed…so why couldn't he control her _actions. _She wasn't playing along. Initially it had been interesting that she had resisted him, now it was infuriating. He had anticipated being half way through forcing her to torture her friend, Po, by now. This disappointment combined with the woman's unfathomable resistance was driving him to an edge of irritation.

Glaring at this woman who 'would not murder,' his insides writhed in disgust, Leck decided to kill the man Po _himself_. He was so annoyed he knew he wouldn't get his usual joy from torturing him and there was always the chance that the woman would grow distressed and stop him, perhaps giving Po a chance to escape or, worse, speak.

"Fine," Leck snapped petulantly, not knowing just how much he sounded like an aggrieved child. "If you will not be the arm of justice, I will execute the man myself."

Leck took a step away from Katsa towards Po who jerked in his bonds in alarm. Katsa said something behind him but Leck was raising the knife, thinking he would stab through the hollow of the man's neck and puncture the lung. He had decided not to bother torturing the man but that didn't mean he was going to kill him quickly and painlessly either, he could still get _some _enjoyment from this disappointment of a scenario.

But then, unbelievably, impossibly, before he could go a step further Katsa was before him, baring his path; Leck could hardly believe his eye.

Katsa, standing between him and Po, was saying,

"No."

-Katsa-

Katsa didn't often turn her backs to those who could hurt her but she knew Po was restrained, physically at least. His mind reading, well, that could not be restrained, nor could she protect herself by facing him. Still, her neck prickled in horror and her ears strained in fear towards him even as she faced King Leck. She wasn't entirely sure what she was doing or why she was doing it, only that deep inside of her she knew there was something wrong with Po being executed. Even the tiniest of doubts was enough for her to stop his execution because if they turned out to the true and the execution had gone through…Katsa remembered years in Randa's service, years of executions and punishments, and knew it would be horrible.

"What are you doing?" King Leck asked, for the first time properly wrong-footed.

"I'm stopping you from executing Po," she said, with a hint of '_I thought that would've been obvious_' in the tone of her voice. The King glared at her, having obviously heard said tone.

"Why?" He snarled, as though irritated at needing to state such an obviously question.

"You are angry, I cannot trust your judgement on his guilt any more then I can trust mine," Katsa said, not realising that her fluctuating trust was a sign of an unconscious struggle against Leck.

"You trust me," Leck reaffirmed and Katsa trembled, her convictions going down on one knee yet still struggling to rise.

"It's the right thing to do, to kill him," Leck said.

"He's helpless, there is no reason to kill him," Katsa argued. Irritated, Leck responded,

"He will kill others if he is not executed."

"You can't know that."

"I do know that, you know that. It is a certainty that he will kill others unless he dies right here, right now. Do you want those innocents to die?" Leck loomed over her, so tall, so sure of himself. Katsa stood her ground, the fear that she was wrong was not enough to stop her from fighting against something that she feared could be unjust.

"I will catch him if he escapes."

"He will use his grace to avoid you and you will not be able to stop him. He will kill someone," Leck repeated, "unless you let me kill him."

He would kill someone, Po was evil, Po was dangerous. Po's would use his grace to avoid her. He could not be kept contained, he would escape. Did she want the blood of those innocents on her hands?

"How do you know?" Katsa resisted the urge to grab her head again, trying to blink through the clarity. She had clarity enough to remember that Leck had a knife in her hands and to remember to keep an eye on it.

"I know a man graced with foresight, he is never wrong. You believe it."

The truth was closing in on her, ready to bury her alive.

"If we kill him, we'll be no worse than he."

"You don't have to do anything," Leck snapped in scorn, "I'll do it. Turn your back and keep a clear conscience, woman."

"I don't care about my conscience, I care about what's right and wrong. No matter what he is guilty of, until I am one-hundred-per-cent sure that killing a bound prisoner is necessary I will stop any efforts _anybody _makes to harm him."

Katsa assumed a defensive stance, not sure if Leck would fight her but determined to be ready if he tried. Leck's expression evolved from anger, to irritation, to wariness, he seemed to have just remembered what Katsa was capable of and how close he was to provoking her.

-Po-

Po could barely breathe around the constriction in his throat. As scared as he was for Katsa there was no denying that there was a large portion of his fear dedicated to himself. But he should've known, he shouldn't have doubted that Katsa would ever kill in anger, would ever kill someone who was helpless. He looked at the back of her head and felt his heart swell again in gratification of the protection she offered despite the lies Leck was feeding her. Defending somebody one loves is admirable, defending a stranger even more so. Defending somebody one hates because there is even the sliver of a chance that they have a right to be defended? Po had needed to do that and hence had never known if, given the chance, he would.

Peering around Katsa's determined spine Po could see Leck's shrewd face. The King looked from Katsa to Po, then back to Katsa. Then Po heard Leck's plan, to get Katsa out of the room and kill him when she was gone, and went rigid in alarm.

"Okay," Leck said with a small smile just for Po's benefit, aware that Po had heard his thoughts but was helpless to stop him, "we'll lock him in the deepest dungeon to stop him from escaping."

The tension loosened its grip on Katsa slightly.

"If you go and get the Master at Arm's he will arrange a cell. Prepare the cell; make sure there are several sets of the strongest metal cuffs there to restrain him. I will untie him and bring him down."

Po stared at Leck in horror. Meeting his eyes Leck opened his mind, showing Po how the cell was for Katsa, how he would placate her with explanations of 'testing the chains strength' as he locked her in so tightly not even she could escape. Of what he would do next to her when she was rendered as helpless as Po was…

Po wrenched against his bonds, snarling, not feeling the blood running from the torn skin of his wrists.

"I will not harm him whilst you are gone," Leck said to Katsa, still smirking slightly at Po, "you believe me."

"Yes," Katsa said, distantly.

"Now go and get the Master at Arms so we can lock up Po without hurting him and stop him from hurting anyone else."

Loosening her stance Katsa turned, giving Po one fleeting look with an expression that showed she satisfied that he would not be harmed.

_No! _Po tried to yell, to scream, _it's a trap! Don't go, Katsa! Don't go!_

But she was _going. _

-Katsa-

Katsa moved away from the two men, satisfied at the protection of this man she couldn't trust her judgement with. He would be locked up and she would not be under such pressure to decide on his fate immediately. She would go and find a quiet and lonely place and she would be angry and in pain for a while, then she would decide, unpressured, what her next course of action should be.

If Leck had been patient, if he had not underestimated her, everything would have turned out differently. But insatiable cruelty cannot wait, and Katsa heard a noise when she was only a few steps away. She looked back, worried that Po was free and reading her mind and was going to make her trust him again, but instead she was confronted with the sight of Leck looming over Po with knife raised, just as he said he wouldn't.

"NO!" She shouted and twisted her body around to face where she was facing, diving towards the King and the prisoner even as the knife descended.

-Leck-

Leck had not anticipated her speed or the fact that her doubts would not slow her. He had thought he could stab Po then placate Katsa with his words as the man died.

He was bringing the knife down when he heard her shout. He twisted, seeing her out of the corner of his eye, deciding in a flash to kill the man and placate the woman quickly so that the deadly graceling he had brought into this halls did not murder him first.

He brought the knife down messily in his rush and though the man was twisting away Leck's aim was off so badly it gored the face even though it was arching away from the blade.

-Po-

The knife sheared into Po's left cheek, the tip ricocheting off of his molars and it slammed through skin and muscle. It felt like his face was on fire, caving in, covered in acid. Somehow, though, the blade didn't cut the gag; Po was just unlucky like that. Bouncing off of his face the knife descended again, it was going to slice his throat, his airways, his jugular…he was going to die and there was so much he hadn't _done _yet and he was so young.

Something whistled in front of him, he couldn't see, his vision was red as blood even though his eyes were clenched into fists. There was a slamming jolt in front of him and Leck's mind flashed blank, not thinking about Po for the first time since he had entered the room. Katsa's mind was giving a shriek of wordless –_defend Po- _but Po couldn't read anything else.

Leck grunted, Katsa was gasping, Po opened his eyes.

-Katsa-

Katsa slammed into Leck but, in a micro-second that went for five minutes, realised the direction she was hitting him would drive the knife further into Po (further as in the time it had taken her to get to his side the blade had cut into his face.) With her hands which had flashed forwards she grabbed his elbow in one hand and his wrist in the other and, time returning to normal, in a blinding flash she wrenched the knife away from Po so fast Leck's wrist fractured in her hands. Leck was yelling in pain and wrenching away from her, Katsa let him go. She aided him in fact by kicking him solidly in the side to encourage him in putting distance between Po and himself.

"What are you doing? You said you wouldn't hurt him!" She snarled, a hand going to Po's wound to check its location and severity.

Hunched away from her, Leck cradled his broken hand and turned, eyes blazing like a house on fire, occupants being burnt to death.

"He tried to kill me," Leck rasped, "I had to defend myself."

"His hands were bound, you could've defended yourself without hurting him," Katsa snarled, breathing easier as she ascertained that the injury wasn't life threatening. Katsa reached for the knot tying the gag in his mouth.

"What are you doing?" Leck said sharply, straightening despite himself then caving in again around his injured arm.

"He's bleeding," Katsa could see how the knot was woven; her grace helped her slightly, and dragged on the part that would loosen it, "I need the cloth to stem the blood."

"No, he's dangerous! Don't take out his gag!" Leck stepped forwards now, alarmed.

"They are only words," Katsa said, finally loosening the knot, "they cannot hurt us."

And with that she pulled the gag free.

-Po-

"Katsa!" Po gasped as soon as the gag was removed, blood flecked from his mouth as he did so, "Leck is graced with making you believe everything he says!"

"What?" Katsa said, disarmed.

"He's lying," Leck snapped, moving forwards with obvious purpose of silencing Po.

"Don't touch him!" Katsa snarled, obviously understanding Leck's intentions.

"Katsa, Leck is graced, he lied. I never did any of the things…"

"He's lying, don't listen to him, kill him!" Leck ordered. Katsa's head felt like it was splitting down the middle once more.

"Stop him from talking!" Leck shrieked and lurched forwards. Katsa's hands slammed with jarring force into Leck's shoulders, shoving him backwards.

"Get away from him," she grunted, eyes flinching at the pain in her head.

"Katsa he wants to kill us!" Po said, blood running down his cheek and through his mouth.

-Katsa-

Leck was curled around his arm, but suddenly unravelled, drawing a knife from somewhere with his left hand. He stepped forwards, knife up, to kill Katsa before she could see through the fog that was still written on her face. But she had heard Po, she remembered trusting him, and despite everything that she had ever seen or ever heard, this man was trying to murder her and she had a right to defend herself. And she did.

Injured arm across his stomach, not defending him in the slightest, and good arm raised, Leck made it absurdly easy. Diving close and blocking the knife with one arm with her other hand Katsa slammed a fist into Leck's throat. The King reeled and might've survived if he hadn't still tried to attack. Weakly he brought the knife around again to try and gut her but Katsa sunk her fist into his throat a second time and his airway caved in.

Dropping the knife, Leck tried to clutch at his crumpled neck. Katsa had obviously caused horrific internal damage, the entire shape of his throat had changed and blood came coughing up out of his mouth.

He dropped to one knee, coughing, gasping; fell to the ground, trying to breath.

It was horrible, but Katsa didn't look away. She had done this, so she didn't let herself look away. Eventually the King stopped struggling and lay still. Only then did she let herself reel away, mind spinning, to face Po. Po was trying to say something, but Katsa was deaf in the strange grief for the man that had tried to kill her, grief for the part of herself that had calculated that she had a right to defend herself from him, to the point where what had happened had been necessary. She staggered to the chair Po sat in, he was still talking. Not looking at the knife that lay beside its owner Katsa undid the ropes holding Po down slowly by hand. She freed his hands and moved to his legs. He had stopped trying to speak, instead just tried to help her undo his bonds. He actually hindered the protest a little but Katsa was too weak to protest. Finally the last rope was undone, she wanted to lean against him, collapse or be held, but she pulled away. She felt restless, dangerous. Pushing herself to her feet she managed two steps before falling to her knees, shuddering uncontrollably.

Po must've heard her wordless horror in her mind, or maybe he just knew because he could read people physically so well grace or no grace, because he didn't try to touch her. He merely moved to her side and tried to comfort her with his presence.

-Po-

He held the cloth of his gag to his cheek, just as Katsa had intended it to be held. He was breathing shallowly; the pain was amazing in its ferocity. But Katsa was more important and he focused around it.

He heard in her mind the horror she felt at having killed Leck, not for Leck's sake but for the sake that she was once again a murderer.

"No," he said softly, blood running in his mouth faster as he spoke, "you were defending yourself, you're not the murderer. It was his fault, he was trying to kill you, you are not to blame."

Katsa looked up at him, face pained as she saw his injury.

"I've had worse," he said. But the pain went deeper than that. He read it in the air; read the horror she felt at what she had believed of him, what Leck had made her believe. He heard her remember that he could read her thoughts and the renewed anguish and terror that he would see her beliefs as betrayal.

"It's not your fault," he said and moved closer, she stiffened but allowed him to approach her.

"Remember his grace? He makes you believe what he says, you had no choice. It was not your fault," Po reached out and touched her knee with bloodied fingers. Katsa let him. Her mind went quiet; Po knew she would be thinking about herself. Her expression was disgusted, ashamed.

"You didn't let him control you," Po said firmly, "you didn't let your emotions control you. Despite what Leck made you believe you didn't let yourself hurt me."

Her expression went distant, unreadable. Her mismatched eyes met his mismatched eyes as they sat together on a blood stained floor.

"You wanted to kill me, you thought I had done you terrible wrongs, but you didn't let these influence your opinion on whether or not it was right to kill me. That is so admirable, Katsa. You're not weak for believing him, you had no choice. You're strong for standing by your values, despite what the world is doing around you…despite what you thought the world was doing to you."

Katsa's eyes closed, but when she spoke it was with surprising calmness.

"I know."

"If you know," Po said in soft anguish, "why are you so distressed."

Katsa turned her closed face away from him.

"There's knowing, and there's feeling," she said harshly. She opened the thought to Po. She _knew _she had been right, she _knew _she had been strong, but in the same way what she had felt and done had differed under Leck's influence, what she felt and what she knew differed in her own mind.

Po went to move forwards but paused,

"Can I hug you?" He asked tentatively, not wanting to crowd her. To his surprise he saw a trace of a smile on her lips.

"Of course you can hug me," she said, and Po fell against her, hugging her with all of the strength he could muster. She gave a sob of a laugh, but it was more laugh then cry.

"It will be okay," Po said.

-Katsa-

Katsa understood. Her feelings were misleading and they could hurt her. But they would pass. They would, eventually, align with what she knew. And she knew she had done the right thing, Po draping himself into a hug around her was proof enough of that in her opinion. She still felt horrified at what she had believed, but there was also a hint of pride inside of her. Leck had thrown the worst he could think of at her to try and make her kill Po, and she had not.

She had always feared her grace, always feared her ability to fight and kill. She had always thought she was a risk, a liability, a threat to those around her.

But now she _knew _she wasn't.

Nothing anybody said could make her do anything. No words could make her hurt anyone.

She wasn't a threat, she was a protector.

She was almost grateful to Leck for proving it to her. Almost, not quite.

Raising her hands, careful not to touch or jostle his injured jaw, Katsa hugged Po back and breathed him in.

They had both survived.

They were both together and they were both alive.


End file.
